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Contact Info
Home Town Bangor, Maine
Last Address York, Maine
Date of Passing Jan 06, 1994
Location of Interment Maine Veterans Memorial Cemetery - Augusta, Maine
Wall/Plot Coordinates SECTION M ROW 12 SITE 20
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
He was the pilot of one of 12 B-17s which arrived over Oahu on a flight from the U.S. on Dec 7, 1941. With no ammunition on board, he could do little more than to try to escape, so he played tag with Japanese fighters before he was finally able to land safely on a golf course. On Mar 17, 1942, he piloted the B-17 that flew General Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippine Islands.
Synopsis of his DSC citation: Awarded for actions during World War II
(Citation Needed) - SYNOPSIS: Captain (Air Corps) Frank P. Bostrom, United States Army Air Forces, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving as Pilot of a B-17 Heavy Bomber in the 40th Reconnaissance Squadron, 19th Bombardment Group (H), FAR EAST Air Force, while participating in bombing missions during the period 10 through 14 April 1942, in action against enemy Japanese forces in the Philippine islands. Captain Bostrom participated in a daring 4-day mission under the command of Brigadier General Ralph Royce, who led a flight of seven B-25Cs and three B-17s from Australia to a staging field at Del Monte on Mindanao in the Philippine Islands. Over the following two days the B-25's and B-17's attacked the many ships and the docks at Cebu, the air and harbor facilities at Davao, and Nichols Field on Luzon. The B-25 Mitchell's were involved in over twenty sorties. They sank one Japanese transport and possibly two others. They also shot down three Japanese aircraft. All but one of the aircraft returned to Australia without the loss of a single flyer, and they brought out a number of important military and diplomatic personnel who had gathered at Del Monte to await evacuation. The personal courage and zealous devotion to duty displayed by Captain Bostrom during this period have upheld the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, the Far East Air Force, and the United States Army Air Forces.
General Orders: Headquarters, U.S. Army Forces in Australia, General Orders No. 39 (1942)
The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the military aviation arm of the United States of America between 1926 and 1941. The statutory administrative forerunner of the United States Air Force, it was renamed from the earlier United States Army Air Service on 2 July 1926 and part of the larger United States Army. The Air Corps was the immediate predecessor of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), established on 20 June 1941. Although discontinued as an administrative echelon during World War II, the Air Corps (AC) remained as one of the combat arms of the Army until 1947, when it was legally abolished by legislation establishing the Department of the Air Force.
The Air Corps was renamed by the United States Congress largely as a compromise between the advocates of a separate air arm and those of the traditionalist Army high command who viewed the aviation arm as an auxiliary branch to support the ground forces. Although its members worked to promote the concept of air power and an autonomous air force between the years between the world wars, its primary purpose by Army policy remained support of ground forces rather than independent operations.
On 1 March 1935, still struggling with the issue of a separate air arm, the Army activated the General Headquarters Air Force for centralized control of aviation combat units within the continental United States, separate from but coordinate with the Air Corps. The separation of the Air Corps from control of its combat units caused problems of unity of command that became more acute as the Air Corps enlarged in preparation for World War II. This was resolved by the creation of the Army Air Forces (AAF), making both organizations subordinate to the new higher echelon.
The Air Corps ceased to have an administrative structure after 9 March 1942, but as "the permanent statutory organization of the air arm, and the principal component of the Army Air Forces," the overwhelming majority of personnel assigned to the AAF were members of the Air Corps.